Heaven or Hell
by OurScars
Summary: Sequel to 666. Jumba’s repeated encounters with a mysterious man, as well as attacks by unexplainable creatures is leading him to question the powers of Heaven and Hell. Please Review
1. Chapter 1: Sightings of a Beast

**Chapter 1**:** Sightings of Beast**

"Little Girl!" Jumba shouted from the couch, "That thing you are liking on the news is being on." Lilo ran in from the kitchen and jumped up onto the couch next to him. He put one of his large arms around her little shoulders and she scooted closer to him. In the past, this interaction between them would never have happened. But ever since that night at the prison, the large alien had begun to show more kindness with the people around him. As a result, bonds between him and the others around began to form; such as the one he was strengthening with Lilo right now.

"Wolf Watch is the only reason that I watch the news, you know?" Lilo said, grateful for the warmth that Jumba gave off on the cool, overcast morning. Jumba smiled and nodded, then looked back at the television in front of him.

"Wolf Watch, day fourteen," the anchorman said in a dramatic voice. Wolf Watch was the title given to an ongoing news story about a lone wolf on the island. Hawaii was not a wolf's natural environment, but one single wolf had been sighted numerous times on the island, and it made great news. This was the fourteenth day that the local authorities had been trying to catch this creature, but to no avail. The wolf had not hurt anyone so far, and it had shown very odd behavior, or so said the mammal 'expert' that had been interviewed.

"As those of you who have been tuning in know, sightings of the wolf have been scarce these past few days. But today, we have an eyewitness that not only saw the wolf, but also says that it saved her three-month-old baby. Our own Diane Williams is with her now. Over to you Diane." The picture switched to the beautiful Diane Williams, standing beside a very stressed out woman, cradling a small baby in her arms.

"Thank you, Brian. Now Mrs. Handson, would you please tell us about your sighting of the wolf last night?" Diane said into the microphone, pushing it toward Mrs. Handson.

"Well, I was walking along the edge of the woods, down Lane Street, when I tripped and lost my grip on the stroller that my baby was in. It started to roll down the hill, toward the busy interaction ahead. I was on the ground, and there was no way that I would have been able to save my child. But then it came out of the woods and knocked the stroller over, taking my daughter out with her blanket in its mouth. I thought that it was going to go back into the woods the eat her. But it slowly approached me and set her down gently not five feet away from me," Mrs. Handson said, fussing over her baby the whole time.

"Thank you, can you please show us the blanket that you say the wolf carried your baby in?" Mrs. Handson bent off screen and then came back on holding a small, pink baby blanket. She handed it to Diane, who spread it out for the viewers to see. Large tooth marks were in the cloth, and it looked stiff with dried slobber. "That is very odd of a wolf to save a small child, but then again, this obviously is not a normal wolf. If it were, it wouldn't be on the island. Back to you, Brain." With that the screen switched back to the anchorman and he started to talk about some other news.

"I still say that it's a werewolf," Lilo said, looking up at Jumba, "Why else would it be on the island?"

"But, Little Girl, there was being no full moon last night. Nor for the past thirteen days," Jumba said with a chuckle.

"Yeah, but it appeared on a full moon. Plus, werewolves are known for breaking the rules," she answered in matter of fact tone.

"You are thinking that everyone is either werewolf or vampire or some other monstrosity," Jumba said lightly, "Even your Uncle Jumba."

"No, Jumba," Lilo giggled, "I tested you for werewolf, remember? And your teeth aren't sharp enough for you to be a vampire." Jumba smiled, remembering the time that she had slipped some plant into his coffee, wolf's bane, if he remembered correctly. She had said that it was used to ward off werewolves, and since his head didn't explode from eating it, he wasn't a werewolf.

"Lilo!" came a high-pitched shout from the kitchen. It was Pleakley, a skinny little noodle of a person. "You need to go wake Stitch up. It's almost time for your hula lessons!" Lilo jumped up and ran out of the room and Jumba heard the little elevator whoosh up the shoot. A moment later, Pleakley came in, wearing his normal flower print dress, but with an apron over top. "Jumba, you're going to have to take Lilo to her hula lessons because Nani is at work and I'm cleaning."

"Jumba would be happy to escort Little Girl and Stitch to the lessons of de hula," Jumba stated, standing up and placing his hand over his heart just to be funny. It worked, as Pleakley cracked up and walked out of the room. Lilo came back into the living room shortly after, followed by Stitch. "Come, Little Girl and 626, we must be leaving for the lessons of hula."

A few moments later, the three of them were in the buggy, breaking the speed limit to Lilo's hula class. The buggy skidded to a halt outside of the school and the two shorter ones jumped out as Jumba went to park the car.


	2. Chapter 2: Supposed to be a Scientist

**Chapter 2: Supposed to be a Scientist **

Jumba walked in soon after the class had begun. Taking a seat on the available bench, he watched the girls dance. As he watched, his scientific mind couldn't help but notice and pick out the differences between the dancing of the older girls and the dancing of the younger girls.

The older girl's steps were more sure and definite, whereas the little girl's steps got subconsciously re-adjusted every time they put their foot down. Jumba could also tell the difference between the girls that were talented, such as Lilo and a few other girls, and the ones who were not. The talented girls movements seamed effortless.

An hour later, the practice ended, and the girls disappeared from the stage and went into their different changing rooms. After only a few moments, elevated voices started coming from the younger girl's dressing room. Jumba picked out Lilo's voice and Myrtle's voice, though he couldn't understand what they were saying. Then they came back into the main room, and their words became clearer.

"…Isn't that color, even the eyewitnesses that saw it say that it was dark colored," Lilo said into Myrtle's face as they walked out of the dressing room.

"Well, they forgot to ask one eyewitness, me," Myrtle spat back.

"You didn't see the wolf, and even if you did, it wasn't white!" Lilo nearly shouted, flailing her arms about.

"Yes I did, and yes it was! The wolf had white fur and black eyes! I saw it!" Myrtle growled. Her eyes darted quickly around the room and rested on Jumba before snapping back to Lilo. "I know how to settle this," she said. Myrtle stalked over to Jumba, quickly followed by the three other little girls that always follow her. Lilo followed once she saw where Myrtle was heading. "You're supposed to be a scientist, right?"

"I am a scientist, yes," Jumba frowned at the insult that Myrtle didn't even know she had given.

"Then you should know what it's called when an animal is all white," Myrtle said, glairing at Lilo.

"Albino," Jumba said simply, "Albino."

"See, I told you, it was white. It must be an albino, that must be why it's acting so weird," Myrtle threw it in Lilo's face. Lilo stole a sideways glance at Jumba, her expression slightly hurt.

"I would be doubting that," Jumba quickly interjected, "Albino is a genetic mutation that causes the body not to make any pigment, which colors the body. The result is extremely pale skin, white hair, and pink eyes, not black. Besides, being albino does not make you crazy. There is, however, another medical condition that might cause an animal to 'act weird'."

"Oh, I know, rabies," the little girl with the blond pigtails said.

"Very good, other little girl. However, according to the news people, this wolf is not showing any symptoms of rabies. So that means that it is not albino and it currently has no explanation for its strange behavior," Jumba concluded, cocking a small smile.

"Well, you're both stupid, and I'm right," Myrtle shot back, turning around with a flip of her hair. She walked out of the room, followed by the other three girls.

Jumba smiled slightly, "Come, little girl, we should be getting home. Larger girl will be being there soon."

Nani drove swiftly across the wavy street that overlooked the ocean. She knew that this was not the safest road, with the threat of being thrown out into the 100 ft. drop if you made a wrong turn or got hit. But it was the fastest, and she needed to get home. Besides, it there wasn't anyone else on the road to hit her, or so she thought.

Her car suddenly jumped, nothing to worry about, she must have hit a bump. But her car jumped again, more violently this time. There had been no bump or pothole large enough to shake the car like so, not any she had seen. Now she was being cautious to the point of being paranoid, looking at every inch in the road in front of her while driving slowly. It didn't help.

For the third time, her car lurched violently, nearly tossing her out of her seat. That time, she knew that there had been nothing on the road to make her car toss at all. She looked in her rear-view mirror and saw nothing. There was no explanation for what was happening. Nani scrambled for her seat belt, trying to buckle it whilst driving. But before she could get it fastened, her vehicle lurched for a fourth time.

The car was tipped over and landed on its side, sparks flashing as it continued to slide from the momentum. Nani was helplessly thrown from her seat out into the open air over the ocean. As she came down, she managed to catch the side of the cliff she was on. So she hung on the border of life and death by one hand loosely gripping a piece of crumbling stone.

Tears ran down her cheeks as she desperately tried to get a better grip to no avail. She couldn't die, she had a family, and there was so much that she hadn't done. But she knew that death didn't care what her accomplishments were, and who she was leaving behind. It only saw her as another life to be extinguished. The rock she was holding gave way, and Nani began to fall through empty space.

She suddenly stopped falling, but she hadn't hit the ground. It was a hand that had stopped her descent, a single white-gloved hand gripping her wrist. The hand slowly pulled her up and back onto the cliff. Looking up from the ground, she saw her rescuer, a single man wearing a long white coat and a white wide-brimmed hat.

"Thank you," she whispered, having trouble finding her voice.

"Don't mention it," the man responded, keeping his head down so that the brim of his hat covered his face. He stood up and turned around, beginning to walk away.

"Who are you?" Nani asked, her voice quivering. The man stopped, and it was then that she noticed that he had the image of an angel worked into the back of his coat.

"I'm nobody," he answered, a hint of amusement in his voice. Nani blinked, and the man was gone.


	3. Chapter 3: A Shoulder To Cry On

Lilo ran to the elevator that led up to her room, eager to get out of the grass skirt that she was wearing. It was one of her old ones, and it was really itchy. It only took her a moment to get out of her whole hula outfit, grass skirt and all, and into her normal dress. Knowing that she didn't have much time before Nani returned home, Lilo quietly got out her catalog of experiments. Maybe she could get some more of the pictures before her older sister got home.

Several hours later, Nani still had not returned home, and Lilo couldn't help but begin to worry. It was true that Nani sometimes had to stay at work later than she had planed, but she always managed to call to inform the family. But as far as Lilo knew, there had been no phone calls at all since the three of them had returned from the hula practice. The hiss of the elevator distracted Lilo from her thoughts and made her look up. What she saw was Pleakley's slender body rising out of the hole in the floor.

"Did Nani tell you when she was going to be home?" the noodle-like alien asked.

"Yeah," Lilo answered, "Three hours ago." This just made Pleakley stand in the middle of the room, looking a bit confused. Lilo sighed; he still hadn't fully grasped sarcasm. The sound of the door opening made them both jump. Lilo gasped and pushed Pleakley out of the way in her hurry to get downstairs. When she arrived downstairs, she saw none other than her older sister walking through the door.

"Hey, Nani," Lilo chimed, running up to her sister, "How come you were so late?"

"Just a little car trouble," Nani responded, taking a knee to be level with Lilo's height. It wasn't really a lie, but it wasn't the whole truth either. "In fact, I need to go pick up the car real quick. So why don't you stay here and help Pleakley order some pizza?" Lilo nodded, not entirely convinced.

"Alright, if you say so," Lilo said, with a tilt of the head and a squint of the eye that was meant to tell Nani that she wasn't buying it. But she still left and went back to her room to retrieve Pleakley.

"Jumba," Nani addressed, standing up and turning to face the large alien. The Quelta Quanien had seated himself on the sofa, and had to look up from a copy of 'National Geographic' that he had found on the street. "Jumba, I need your help."

"What with, Larger Girl?" Jumba asked, flopping the magazine shut. Nani took a quick look around, moved over to him, and bent down, practically whispering in his ear.

"My car got in an accident, and I need your help to tow it to a body shop," Nani explained in a hushed voice. Jumba understood why she kept the accident hushed. Lilo and Nani's parents had died in a car accident, and Lilo might get upset if she learned that another one of her family had gotten into a car crash.

"Okay, let us be going," Jumba stood up and put his hand on her shoulder, guiding her outside to the bright red buggy that served as the family's second car and as Lilo and Stitch's joy-rider. Nani slipped into the passenger's seat as Jumba squeezed into the driver's seat. Then they took off.

A few quiet moments went by before someone decided to break the silence. "Have you ever felt that someone was watching you?" Nani asked, almost hesitantly. The question was so out of the ordinary that Jumba had to steal a glance at her out of the corner of one of his many eyes. She was slightly curled up in the seat, her arms wrapped around her as if she was cold in this warm weather.

"Sometimes, yes. I get that tingle on the back of my neck. Like the hairs would be standing up, if I was to be having any," Jumba stole another glance at her. "Are you being alright?" he asked, letting his massive hand eclipse her slight shoulder.

"Yeah, it's just that after the accident…there was…I'll tell you when we get there." Getting there didn't take much longer, and it was then that Jumba understood why she had been acting weird.

The car was still propped up on its side, two of the wheels standing high in the air. Paint from the car was spattered across the asphalt from when it had slid across the road. Not only that, but Jumba did some quick calculations, and then came to a conclusion that he didn't like.

"Was Larger Girl wearing safety restraint when this happened?" Jumba inquired as he stepped out of the buggy.

"No, she was not," Nani answered, also getting out of the buggy.

"Then, you must have been…" Jumba started in disbelief

"Tossed from the car, over the side of that cliff? Yeah," Nani finished. "That was what that question was about." Jumba gave her a quizzical look. "When I was thrown from the car, I managed to catch the side of this cliff." Just being here made her want to start crying. "Then the rock gave out and I started to fall." She didn't even want to think about it. "But this man caught me, and pulled me back up. But it was really odd; he just came out of nowhere, and then vanished. It was just so random, him being there at just the right time. It made me think. So, I guess my real question is do you believe that angels watch over us?"

"No," Jumba murmured rubbing the back of his neck, it tingled. "No, I am just not being the religious sort of person." In fact, all of this talk of angels and stuff was making him uneasy. "So he is just saving you, then leaving? No name or anything?"

Nani shook her head, "No, but he would stick out here in Hawaii, wearing a coat, gloves, and a hat. Even if they were white. It's just too hot."

"White coat?" Jumba whispered, and then his eyes went wide.

_There was a gunshot followed by a pained grunt, and then the dull thud of a body hitting the floor. But when Jumba opened his four eyes, what he saw was not what he expected. The gun was on the table with a smoking bullet hole above it on the ceiling. Face down on the ground was the robber, his arm bent in an odd way. The man in the white coat was gone, just vanished as if he had never been._

"The man at the diner," Jumba said. A small sob broke him from his thoughts. He turned to see Nani kneeling at the edge of the cliff, her back heaving. He walked over to her and lifted her to her feet. She sagged against him and sobbed softly. He wrapped his arm around her and did his best to be comforting, but he didn't feel like he was doing a very good job, because she started to cry harder. The only thing that he could think to do was let her cry herself out, and that was what he did. He stood there for the better part of an hour, just being the shoulder to cry on. And that was fine with him.


	4. Chapter 4: Rocks and Warnings

**Chapter 4: Rocks and Warnings**

"Thank you," Nani whispered, wiping her eyes and pulling away from Jumba's half embrace. She sighed as she saw the large wet spot her crying had left on his shirt.

"Not to be mentioning it," Jumba responded, looking away and walking over to her 'standing-on-side' car. With a push and a grunt of effort, he tipped the car back onto four wheels. Nani almost gasped, she had forgotten how strong he was. He then grabbed the tow cable from the buggy and attached it to the front bumper of the car. Nani walked up to him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"No, I'm serious, thank you," Nani said, worried that the way she had said it before had been insincere. Jumba turned to her and smiled one of his wide smiles that didn't show any teeth, but he closed all of his eyes in a way that said that he meant it.

"Car is hooked to buggy, we should be going," Jumba said, climbing into the drivers seat of the car. Nani got into the passengers side, and Jumba hit the gas. The buggy lurched as it started moving, and then lurched again as the cable went taunt and the buggy picked up the weight of the car. Then a third lurch; this one, unexplainable. Jumba looked around in surprise, but kept moving forward. Another lurch, and Nani said something that Jumba couldn't hear as a more violent lurch lifted the buggy onto two wheels for a brief moment.

"Jumba! It's happening again, this is the way it happened last time!" Nani, shouted, this time loud enough to hear. Jumba slammed on the breaks, and the buggy screeched to a halt, then was hit in the rear as the car continued forward on its own momentum. Looking ahead of their position, the two saw a nearly imposable explanation for the constant lurching. The ground under where the buggy would have been rose up quickly in a strange, almost humanoid shape. When the 'thing' realized that the buggy was not there, it looked around and then turned to look at them. What they saw was almost unnerving. It had two thick arms that ended in three fingered hands, and its back was hunched as if it was carrying some heavy weight. The head was large and nearly took up all of what would have been its chest. Two sickly green emerald eyes were set above a toothy maw that was large enough to swallow a small child. The entire creature appeared to be lopsided, with its left side slightly lower than its right. The unnerving thing was that the entire thing appeared to be made of the very stone that its lower half was undoubtedly merged with.

"One of your stupid experiments, I assume?" Nani sneered. Jumba just shook his head. It was not one of his experiments; in fact, the technology that it would have taken to construct such a creature was far beyond anything that the Galactic Federation had. Sure, there were creatures that were made of a rock-like _organic _substance, but this thing did not look organic at all. Besides, there was no documented creature in existence that could _merge_ with anything.

Slowly, the creature sunk back into the asphalt, never taking its eyes off of them. "Get out of buggy and stay away from edge," Jumba instructed, trying to calculate where the creature would come up next. They slowly approached the rock wall opposite of the edge, watching the concrete for any movement at all.

"Wait, won't it just grab us and pull us under?" Nani asked, practically climbing up the wall.

"I am not thinking so. It would have done that with car and buggy if it could," Jumba responded, all four eyes searching the road. He was more intrigued than frightened. He heard a sound behind him and turned just in time to see the creature come halfway out of the stone wall and grab him around the neck. The creature opened its huge jaws and let out a screech that sounded like two rocks rubbing together, which it very well might have been. Its open maw moved closer to Jumba's head, and Jumba had the sudden mental image of getting its head bit off. He struggled, but the creature was as strong as the rock it was made of, and those teeth came ever closer.

"Naga!" came the scratchy voice of his 626th experiment as the blue ball of terror slammed into the rock creature, knocking it away from Jumba and completely out of the stone wall. It was only after his neck was out of immediate danger that he noted that the creature's skin was now the dusty brown color of the stone rather than the stark black of the asphalt. It landed back on the asphalt and immediately remerged with the road.

"Nani!" came a shout from up the road a little. Lilo turned the corner and came into view, nearly causing Nani to have a heart attack.

"Lilo, what are you doing here!" Nani ran over to her.

"Stitch said that he smelled something 'unnatural'. He said that he thought that you two were in danger," Lilo explained, looking around for what could be so dangerous. It came out only a second later, completely parting with the ground as it leaped into the air, a long stinger-tipped tail trailing behind it. The tail swung around the body and shot itself at the two. Stitch was there in an instant. He slammed a backfist into the tail, sending it slamming into a small shrub growing out of the rock wall. It let out a roar of pain as the scorpion-like stinger cracked against the wood.

Running along the tail, Stitch jumped off and ax-kicked it in the head. It remerged with the street and popped up behind Stitch, grabbing him by the back of the head and slamming his face into the ground with enough force to leave a small crater. "Stitch!" Lilo shouted, but Stitch didn't answer, instead, he grabbed the hand that the monster had on his head, and pulled it over his head and slammed it into ground. When the monster merged with the ground, Stitch pulled on the hand that he held. But to his surprise, the hand came clean off at the spot that it joined with the ground. A moment later the monster resurfaced, a new hand in place of the old one. The hand that Stitch held crumbled to gravel.

The monster's tail shot out again, this time at Stitch. He dodged to the side, but not fast enough. A piercing pain stabbed his side. Stitch looked down to see the stinger imbedded in his ribs. Warmth spread across this body that quickly turned to a burning pain, and Stitch knew that he had been poisoned. His legs buckled, and he fell to his hands and knees. Blood dripped to the ground at his side as the stinger was pulled out. He looked at the 'slightly lighter than red' spots that spattered the asphalt.

Stitch hoisted himself up into a drooping half-stance. The muscles in his arm contracted, and he threw a full-body punch that connected with the monster's nose. He saw the monster fly several meters before crashing into the front of the buggy. Then, Stitch passed out. "Stitch!" Lilo called out, escaping from Nani's grip and running over to where he lay face down in the dirt. From the corner of his eyes, Jumba saw a blur of black. His eyes went wide as he saw the monster blur past him and hurl itself at Lilo and Stitch. Jumba reached out as he drew a ragged gasp. The thing's tail was just in reach, he had to catch it, he had to save Little Girl and 626, he just had to. Jumba felt a strange tingling across his back, and then he blacked out.

Jumba awoke with a start, opening his eyes and seeing only white. It took a moment for his mind to catch up, and he realized that he was standing up. Who passed out and woke up in a standing position? His eyes snapped open the whole way. He had to save Little Girl and 626! Where were they? He took a careful look at his surroundings, and saw nothing, absolutely nothing. Only a whiteness that was almost too bright to look at, but not quite. Doing a complete 360, Jumba's eyes settled at the only other thing in this void beside him.

A man stood about 10 meters away with his hands clasped behind his back. His eyes were hidden by a white wide-brimmed hat that matched the white trench coat and white boots that he wore. Jumba squinted to get a better look at him against the vast white. It was the man from the diner, and most likely the man that Nani had described.

"Who are you? And where are we?" Jumba shouted at the man, spreading his arms wide to indicate the void. The man smiled, a small smile.

"We're in your sub-conscious, Dr. Jookiba," the man answered, also spreading his arms wide. Jumba tilted his head in confusion, and was about to ask how when the man answered his question. "Your desperate need to save the lives of those close to you, that need opened you to me," he said, "Take a look." He pointed just past Jumba. Jumba turned around to see that where there had once been only white, there was now what appeared to be a replica of the cliff-side road where he had just been; only, he could see himself as well. As he watched, he saw himself grab the tail of the stone creature and swing it in a wide arc, slamming it in to the side of the buggy. When the monster leaped at him in an attempt to claw him, he sidestepped it, but still received a good slice to his arm.

Jumba saw himself grab the monster by the shoulder and punch it full in the face, sending it face first into the ground. But before it could merge with the asphalt, he grabbed its tail and threw it into the air, letting it fall on his fist as it came down. Pushing it face first into the front of the buggy, he put his elbow in the center of the thing's back and after a moment of straining, he ripped its arm clean off and hit it in the face with it. This threw it to the ground and it started to go into the ground, but before it could, Jumba grabbed it by the head and ripped it back out, then slammed his fist into its stomach area. It pushed itself away from him and succeeded in merging into the ground. Jumba saw himself look around, and then slam the ground with both fists. Several meters away, in front of where Lilo was holding an unconscious Stitch, the monster popped out of the ground with enough force to throw it in to the air. Grabbing the front of the buggy, Jumba ripped the front bumper off and hurled it at the stone creature like a boomerang.

Jumba watched in amazement at the things that he assumed he was actually doing. But he had figured it out. "That is not really being Jumba who is doing this?" he asked, turning back around to face the man.

"Yes and no," the man answered with that same sly smile.

"So you are possessing me?" Jumba asked slowly. The man nodded.

"You're just as sharp as I thought you were, Dr. Jookiba," the man said with a hint of amusement in his voice. Jumba couldn't help but draw himself up in pride. "I feel that I must apologize in advance for any wounds that you may receive from this fight, your body is harder to fight with than I anticipated. I also must apologize for the destruction of your car, it is one of the only things not made of stone around here."

"What is that thing?" Jumba asked.

"Stone demon," the man answered, the smile fading from his face, "And so we get to the point of this conversation. Dr. Jookiba, you and your family are in grave danger."


	5. Chapter 5: To Protect and Save a Life

**Chapter 5: To Protect and Save a Life**

"Grave danger! Wait, are you threatening me?" Jumba asked in shock.

"No, Dr. Jookiba. I am not threatening you. I am warning you," the man responded, putting his hands up with the palms out in a defensive gesture.

"Oh, I am getting it, is being joke. 'Stone demon,' phhh, is not real," Jumba dismissed it with a wave of his hand.

"Dr. Jookiba!" the man snapped, his hands closing to fists at his side. Then his voice changed to an almost reassuring tone, as if Jumba was a distressed child and he was the responsible parent trying to calm him down. "Dr. Jookiba, as much as you hate to admit it, I believe that you know that there are things in this universe that science just can not explain." Before Jumba could respond there was a bright flash of blinding light that lasted literally, for just an instant.

Jumba open his eyes and found himself kneeling in the middle of the street, with the scattered chunks of what he assumed had been the 'stone demon' splayed out about his knees. He looked around, his eyes darting. They finally settled on Lilo, who was kneeling over the motionless body of Stitch. Quickly rushing over, Jumba put his ear to his creation's chest. The heartbeat was quick and sporadic. Next, Jumba examined the wound on Stitch's side. It wasn't very big, but it wouldn't stop bleeding. "We need to be getting him back to Jumba's lab," Jumba instructed, scooping Stitch up and carrying him to the back seat of the beat up buggy.

"I'll sit with him," Lilo said, positioning herself so that Stitch's head was in her lap.

"Very good, Little Girl. Now, you must apply pressure here. Yes, be placing hand and press," Jumba said, placing her hand over the wound. Nani slid into the passenger's seat and he drove them back in a way that broke many traffic laws.

Once they arrived, Jumba hurried Stitch into the lab in his ship. Gently, but quickly setting him on the metal operating table, Jumba threw on his lab-coat and pulled out a box of medical tools. The box contained such things as hypodermic needles, knives, and gauze and bandages.

"What are you going to do?" Lilo asked, running into the lab only moments later.

"First, Jumba must be taking sample of venom to be finding best way to remove said poison," he answered without looking up from the syringe he had pulled out of the box. He carefully placed the needle into the puncture wound and extracted some of Stitch's blood mixed with whatever he had been injected with. Turning around, Jumba expelled it onto a slide and placed it under the microscope. After a few seconds, he pushed himself away with an "Aha!" He then began rummaging through some draws muttering, "Where did I put that?" and "Come on, where is it?" under his breath. Standing up again, Jumba held up a vial of blackish liquid. He put some into a syringe and injected it into Stitch. "This should be separating 626's blood from the poison. It will let Jumba extract the toxins," he explained. He then put a red disk about the width of a softball over Stitch's heart. It aligned itself with 626's DNA and forced his blood to stay inside of the body.

That piece of technology was essential for the next part of the procedure. Jumba took out an empty syringe and placed the end into Stitch's wound. He began pulling back on the opposite end, and the cylinder began to fill up with a pale green liquid. Needless to say, this was the venom. After four vials of poison, Jumba was halfway through the fifth syringe when the color of the extract changed from green to pink. He immediately stopped and sighed, he had successfully extracted all of the venom. Placing the half-full syringe on the tray next to him, he beckoned Lilo to his side.

"Is he okay?" she asked in a worried tone.

"Yes," Jumba answered, "I am just needing help for the bandages. Put hand here." He put a pad over Stitch's wound and Lilo held it in place as Jumba wound the bandages around Stitch's middle. Stitch moaned quietly and then slowly opened his eyes. Lilo immediately hugged him, and then he tried to sit up. Jumba placed his hand firmly on Stitch's chest and pushed him back down. It was weird to know that if 626 had wanted to, he could have easily resisted Jumba and sat up, but he didn't. "Lay down, 626, you are not fully healed yet."

"Ugh, what happen?" Stitch asked in his ever-scratchy voice.

"It was amazing, Stitch! Jumba was all, like BAM, BAM, POW, and WAP! With its own arm! Then…" Lilo started going on, doing a juvenile impression of what Jumba had done to the 'stone demon'.

"Jumba?" Stitch said in quiet surprise.

"Yes, well," Jumba said, biting his lip and rubbing the back of his neck nervously, "Here, I will carry you to couch." He scooped up his experiment and started toward the house. And Stitch knew that it would be useless to push the subject any further for at least another day.

Travis Johnson had wanted to be a fireman all of his life. Ever since that fireman had come to his class in sixth grade, it had been his dream to save people from burning buildings. Of course, people seldom heard about the not so glamorous part of firefighting, such as clinging to the edge of a section of floor that had just fallen out on the ninth floor of a burning hotel. That was where he was now; looking down nine stories into a burning pit that was hotter than any campfire that someone could ever build. His life started to flash before his eyes.

He had been born in Kentucky, the state where both of his parents had been born and grown up. They had moved to Hawaii when he had been seven years old because, well, who didn't want to move to Hawaii? His father had gotten a job as a mailman, and his mother was a nurse. When he was ten… "Oh, cut that out!"

Travis was suddenly snapped back to reality by that annoyed statement, and by the fact that he was being lifted out of the hole. He looked up to see a man dressed entirely in white lifting all 289 pounds of him and his equipment up by his wrist with no apparent effort. "Let me guess," the man said after lifting him out and putting him on his feet, "Your life flashed before your eyes." His statement was sarcastic, and was reinforced by the sarcastic jazz hands that accompanied it. Then he hung his head and pinched the bridge of his nose, "How cliché."

Travis opened his mouth to say something, he didn't know what, it was most likely 'Who are you?' or 'How the hell did you do that?' something like that. "Shh," the man said, putting his finger to Travis' oxygen mask, right over his mouth. There was a cracking overhead as a flaming wood beam fell from two stories above. It would have crushed them both, had it not been for the fact that the man in white caught it. He just let it fall into his hand, the beam had to way at least a couple hundred pounds, but he just held it over his head like it was nothing. On top of that, the thing was burning red hot, and the man's white glove wasn't even starting to burn. Then he brought his arm parallel to the floor so the beam stood on its end.

"_All units, evacuate immediately, the structure is unstable and about to collapse. I repeat, evacuate immediately!_" the firefighter's radio crackled. Travis shifted his foot.

"No!" the man said, grabbing his arm. He snatched Travis' radio and spoke into it, perfectly impersonating his voice, "Sir, I've just spotted someone, I'm going to get 'em and then get out. Johnson, over and out." He let go of the radio and looked Travis in the eye. Every muscle in Travis' body just became loose, and he felt the tension seep from his body. "Listen to me, there is a little girl in the room two doors down on the right," he pointed down the hall, "She's hiding in the closet. Don't worry about the building; it's not going to collapse until 28 seconds after you exit. Nobody's going to die here today." The man closed his eyes and smiled, "Go get 'em, Slugger." Then he was gone, and the beam he had been holding crashed to the floor.

Slugger, that was what Travis' dad had called him when he was young. Travis ran down the hall and bashed in the second door to the right. The fire seemed to turn down a notch as he walked in, when it should have done the opposite. He moved over to the closet and threw the door open, sure enough, inside was a little girl with light hair, clutching a little Raggedy Ann doll. She cringed as he picked her up and swiftly moved to the exit.

As he crossed through the doorway, Travis couldn't help but start to count under his breath. "One…two…three…" He made his way to the ambulance and passed the girl to the medics. "27…28." Travis turned around just in time to see the building come down.


	6. Chapter 6: A Sheep in Wolf's Clothing

Please Review and Please Enjoy

**Chapter 6: A Sheep in Wolf's Clothing**

Jumba placed Stitch gently on the couch, making sure that nothing touched his wound. "There you are being," Jumba said before he walked away. He passed Lilo on her way to Stitch. She caught his eye and he smiled, reassuring her that everything would be fine. As he walked by the kitchen, he saw Nani sitting at the table, sipping a cup of coffee. Jumba thought about going in to see if she was all right, but then he saw that Pleakley had already taken care of it. So Jumba proceeded to his room and fell down on Pleakley's bed, not having the energy to climb up to his bunk.

Although he most likely wouldn't admit it, he was completely wiped out. His body ached all over from the fight that he hadn't really fought. Jumba let out small scoff. A fight with a creature that didn't really exist. Almost as reassurance, he put his hand into the pocket of the lab coat that he still wore. But when his hand felt nothing, Jumba panicked. He was sure that he had put the venom in his pocket.

"Looking for these?" came a voice. Jumba sat up as fast as he could, and hit his head against the bottom of the top bunk. The voice let out a small chuckle and a, "That had to hurt." When Jumba looked, he saw from whom the voice came. It was the man he had met in his mind. He was sitting on the desk, holding the vials of venom between his fingers.

"You give those back!" Jumba ordered, pushing off of the bed and grabbing at the vials. But as his hand closed around one of the vials, both it and the man vanished.

"Now, now. You know that I can't let you keep these," came the man's voice from behind him. Jumba spun around to see the man now sitting on the top bunk of the bed. The man slid off of the bed and landed soundlessly in front of Jumba. "The poison came from a monster that isn't supposed to exist. So therefore, this poison shouldn't exist either," he said sarcastically, slipping the vials into the pocket of his long, white coat. "But it's okay," he said, putting a gloved hand on Jumba's shoulder. As the hand touched him, Jumba felt all of his weariness wash away. "You know that the stone demon existed. And they know too," the man pointed his thumb at the door, indicating the rest of his ohana. "But no one else can. That's why I can't let you keep the poison."

Jumba opened his mouth to respond, but found that the man was already gone. He put his hand on his shoulder, where the man had put his, surprised that he hadn't felt the man disappear. Removing his lab coat, Jumba decided to go back out with his family. There was no reason for him not to; he was no longer tired, and he couldn't study the venom. So he walked out to the kitchen to pour himself a cup of coffee. But of course he couldn't escape from Pleakley's ever watching eye.

"There you are," the skinny alien said, looking up from Nani. "How is the Little Monster?"

"626 will be fine. Venom is all out, and wound will be gone by mourning," Jumba said as he sat down across from Nani. "Little Girl is doing okay as well," he responded to Nani's questioning look. "But real question is being, how are you?"

"Fine I guess," Nani answered, "Just a bit shaken up." By the looks of it, though, she was shaken up more than just a bit. She sat huddled in her chair, gripping the coffee mug like a lifeline. "What about you? You're the one that fought that thing."

"So I am being told," Jumba responded sarcastically. He was still trying to figure out what kind of tech that man had used to possess him. It had to have been some piece of advanced technology; nothing in nature even came close to simulating what he had experienced. "Jumba is fine," he said quickly in response to the confused stairs.

"Do you two mind watching Lilo and Stitch?" Nani asked after a few moments of silence, "I feel like I need to go to bed." Jumba and Pleakley both nodded, and Nani got up and went to bed.

A few hours later, Jumba was lying on the couch, watching T.V. It was some human show about a group of doctors solving very strange medical cases. He couldn't remember exactly what the show was, _House_…something. Jumba just liked the one doctor's sarcastic comments. As he laughed at another of the doctor's remarks, he felt a form on his stomach stir. Looking down, he saw Lilo, fast asleep atop his belly. He had nearly forgotten that she was there, and that Stitch was asleep in the crook of his arm. A little after Nani had gone to bed, he had sat down to check on Stitch's wound, and had never really gotten back up. Then Pleakley had gone to bed, and by the time it was the little ones' bedtime, they were already asleep. Just not in their beds. Jumba didn't see any need to wake them up just to tell them to go to sleep somewhere else.

Lilo settled down and fell back into restful sleep. A few quite minutes passed, until the silence was broken by the long howl of a wolf. Jumba heard a soft gasp, and looked down to see Lilo's eyes wide with wonder. Stitch was awake as well, his ears pointed strait up from the noise. "That sounded really close," Lilo said, "Like it might even be in the woods behind our house." Jumba nodded. Judging from the volume and the direction the howl came from, that stray wolf could certainly be in their back yard. "Come on, Stitch, let's go see," Lilo said as she slid off of Jumba's belly and onto the floor. Stitch, almost fully healed, started to climb over Jumba's arm.

"Through window only," Jumba ordered, picking up Stitch before he could scurry away. He didn't want him to reopen his wound. Lilo plastered her face to the glass of the window to the back yard, and Stitch leaned out from Jumba's grasp to get a better look.

There was nothing. Even Stitch, shifting through his array of visual filters, couldn't spot anything. "Must have moved on," Jumba reasoned, "Now Little Girl and 626 need to be getting to bed, or Larger Girl will be having my skin." He placed Stitch on the floor, and the two started to march off to bed. Lilo looked disappointed that it had been a false alarm. Jumba stole a glance out the window again, hoping against logic that there would be something there that he could show Lilo. His eyes immediately locked with a pair of golden eyes that stared back at him from the darkness. He was frozen with shock, unable to look way from the eyes. There was something so familiar about them. As Jumba's eyes adjusted to the darkness, he began to see the outline of the creature. Whatever it was, it was much too big to be a wolf.

"Good night," Lilo said, then turned when Jumba didn't answer her. Indeed, Jumba didn't even know she had spoken. He was busy trying to connect that sense of familiarity to something in his vast brain. But no matter how hard he thought, he just couldn't place it. There was something very unnerving about that. "Jumba?" The creature's eyes bore into him, almost taunting him with the fact that he couldn't recognize them. "Jumba?" The eyes suddenly broke contact with his, and Jumba snapped back into the real world. "Are you alright, Jumba?" Lilo asked, looking to see what he was looking at. The creature was already gone.

"Yes, I am alright. Now go to bed, and don't tell Larger Girl you were up so late," Jumba escorted them to the entrance to their dome. Stitch got onto the platform and there was a small hiss as it ascended. "Lilo," Jumba said as she boarded the small elevator, "We are going to go see that lady from the news tomorrow."

"The one whose baby got saved by the wolf? Why?"

"I am just having some questions about this wolf," Jumba answered, "Just a few questions."


End file.
